mytwotalents

Well I have to say that already knowing where I am going and not having to wait around has been huge! I remember sitting at Kellogg hearing Deena and the team reminding us to have a good Christmas and not fret about admit decisions. I was one of the ones that received the news earlier on (Dec 11th) so I haven’t had to worry much about it!

-To those of you still waiting, good luck.
-For those of you still working through 2nd round applications, good luck too - press on, it will be worth it.

I have been doing some school related researching, with the latest involving what smart-phone/pda I should get (iphone probably out since it is not supported) and looking more closely at classes. Yes I know it sounds like I still have so much time before starting, but it has been fun to dig in further knowing that’s where I’ll be next Christmas. Lastly, here is a lesser known Christmas carol on this most special day:

Pilgrims they were from unknown countries
Searching for one who knows the world
Lost are their names and strange their journeys
Famed is their zeal to find the Child
Jesus in You the lost are claimed, aliens are found and known and named.

Merry Christmas.

Well one thing I have realized through the application process is that I need to get more organized. I use a fairly simple excel doc to keep track of dates, essay, recommendations, logins, etc - but grad school is boot camp for time management for two straight years. I have not decided yet what I will use, but my brother in law J has some ideas and even gave me an itunes book as a congrats present for going to school. Once I settle on something I’ll post on it.

Right now I need to:

• brush up on some specific excel things I haven’t done in a while
• get ready for a certificate I’m taking
• start cleaning the basement so I can get the house ready to sell
• enjoy Christmas with my family

Well I am sending in the money tomorrow. No credit cards here - good old fashion money order or check says Mr. Northwestern.  I haven’t made a school payment in a very long time, but there are quite a few coming my way. I will chronicle as much as I can about the scholarship process, and hopefully I will have success in a few spots. In the general time line of the mba process, it might seem early for me to be sending the deposit in so soon, but frankly this is where I want to go and the sooner I start on the whole process the better.

I have a lot to do as far as getting the house ready for the market, the basement is a mess, and I don’t know what I am going to do with all the books I have been accumulating. And lastly, I have that big spring conference that I will be doing. I thought that over the late fall and early winter I would have a lot of time to dedicate to getting prepared for that conference, but applications took a lot out of me (a good thing) so I really have a lot of catching up to do. Last year’s conference was a great success except for one keynote, but I am pretty sure that I can handle that in ‘08.

*I am sure that the housing market will turn around by spring :), ha!

So tonight we had some people over to our house and after dinner the guys went down the street to the local hangout and the girls stayed back. I had a good conversation with one of my closest friends Jn about my future after Kellogg. I have a pretty good idea about what I’d like to do, and yes I am one of the few that actually would like to do what they wrote about in their essays. I know one practical aspect that I have been thinking about is that one of my options entails a lot of time away from home. While this would not be a big deal right now, I think that if a family is in my future that might change. Things to ponder. Sorry for lack of details, but I am still struggling with this right now. I do know that working at the factory right now does allows for some things outside of work (large part of one of my essays), yet I don’t think I want to go back to a similar role post school.

Funny thing is you think HARD about who you are, what you want, what school you want to go to, and then BAM! You show up at school and have to keep wrestling with summer internship + post school.

It never stops…

I will post twice on this, but here is how I picked my first recommendation / career progress writer.

#1: His family hosted my dad when he spoke at their church back in the early 90s. Years later, I am a senior in High School and he is the head of the business department of a college. I visit and after a great breakfast I am sold on the school. He gets to know me extremely well and is one of the most challenging forces in my life, stretching and pushing me over and over again. We stay in touch post graduation and when the time comes to apply I naturally turn to him. By now a decade has passed (with 4 years in college seeing me every day pretty much) and he knows me very well.

Do not make the mistake of going with the new head of sales or research scientist because of a title or because he is an alumni - does she knows how you react when you are pushed? When you succeed beyond expectations, when you fail? When personal matters affect you (for me it was a breakup plus job worries). Can he remember you when you had a different hairstyle, car, major, job, significant other?

To this day I have no idea what he wrote, but as far as speaking honestly and strongly about me he had an array of experiences, pictures, memories, jokes, and arguments to help him. Of course you should provide a biography with pointers and stories - but if you need to fully coach someone, not only will the adcomm probably figure that out, it also won’t be the best representation of who you are.

*when I first started researching getting into top 10 mba schools, I was very interested by how everyone spoke about the non-technical, touchy-feely, holistic nature of applying to these schools. I was skeptical to be honest. But it is true: you walk around for hours thinking of your essays, thinking of who you are, what is most important to you, why one school over another, what is your biggest success, is it really worth the money, and finally - how do you communicate a whole 20 or 30 years through less than 10 double-spaced pages or four powerpoint slides?

Don’t fear the process, embrace it…

One thing to remember for all of us on this mba experience, let’s not get a big head. Not for getting into a top 3 or m7 or top 10 or top 20 or into any school at all. I was reminded of this today at work - and as I was going home I kept thinking about it in my brain. Am I excited to get into the school that I wanted to? YES! Days go by and I am just as excited - and yet I know that it will have to be an active exercise to not get a big head, which seems to be a hallmark of mba grads This world has enough big heads already, let’s do our part to reduce big-headedness…

The simple story is: I got the call from Kellogg today telling me I am in!
I had the celebratory-arms-pumping-in-the-air-thing going on but finally settled down. I think my neck is sore.

It was way before I expected calls to be made and only a week after my interview. I will try to post more for those coming behind us, but this after having visited Evanston I was totally hooked on NW.

Oh and this is my first post, but the Kellogg news is more important.